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violet · cool

#bc9eca

a light, soft violet · cool · closest name: Plum

Token name suggestion: Drift Thistle

RGB
188, 158, 202
HSL
281°, 29%, 71%
CMYK
7, 22, 0, 21
Luminance
0.3941

#bc9eca is a light soft violet, 281° on the wheel and 59/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (8.88:1). As text it scores 2.36:1 on white — use #9363AA instead. Nearest name is Plum, nearest Tailwind family is fuchsia.

hsl(281 29% 71%)rgb(188 158 202)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #bc9eca is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#bc9eca
Hue
281°
violet
Saturation
29%
soft
Lightness
71%
light
Brightness
79%
HSV value
Perceived
68%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3941
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
59/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
8.88:1
Closest name
Plum
ΔE2000 7.1
Chroma
26.5
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.741
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
fuchsia
500 · ΔE 21.1
Web-safe
#CC99CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue281° of 360°
Saturation29%
Lightness71%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #bc9eca.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool59% cool

Reads cool. Warm and cool siblings keep the same lightness, so you can swap one in without redoing your contrast maths.

Luminance by channel
Red27%
Green62%
Blue11%

Green carries most of what the eye calls brightness — that is why WCAG weights it 0.7152.

Every format

HEX#bc9eca
HEX (8-digit)#bc9ecaff
RGBrgb(188, 158, 202)
RGBArgba(188, 158, 202, 1)
HSLhsl(281, 29%, 71%)
HSV / HSBhsv(281, 22%, 79%)
HWBhwb(281 62% 21%)
CMYKcmyk(7%, 22%, 0%, 21%)
LABlab(69.0 19.1 -18.4)
LCHlch(69.0 26.5 316.1)
OKLCHoklch(0.741 0.070 315.0)
XYZ (D65)xyz(43.62, 39.41, 61.17)
Decimal12361418
Display P3color(display-p3 0.737 0.620 0.792)
Web-safe#CC99CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #bc9eca;
background-color: #bc9eca;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #bc9eca;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#bc9eca] bg-[#bc9eca]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #bc9eca;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.737, green: 0.620, blue: 0.792)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.737, green: 0.620, blue: 0.792, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#BC9ECA</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFBC9ECA)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFBC9ECA)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(202, 158, 188)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(188, 158, 202)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(188, 158, 202)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 188, 158, 202)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7373f, 0.6196f, 0.7922f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{188,158,202}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #bc9eca 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #bc9eca 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#472D52, #E4D7E9);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #bc9eca h s calc(l - 7));

Design tokens

The same ramp in the four formats a team actually needs. Paste one and the whole palette lands with it.

css custom propertiesclick to select
:root {
  --brand-50: #F8F6F9;
  --brand-100: #F1ECF3;
  --brand-200: #E1D5E6;
  --brand-300: #CDB6D7;
  --brand-400: #bc9eca;
  --brand-500: #9B6EB0;
  --brand-600: #87579E;
  --brand-700: #714884;
  --brand-800: #5A3A6A;
  --brand-900: #432D4E;
  --brand-950: #2A1C31;
  --brand: #bc9eca;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F8F5FA;
  --brand-border: #DBCAE2;
  --brand-hover: #AC87BD;
  --brand-pressed: #9C70B1;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1F1424;
    --brand-ink: #E4D7E9;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F8F6F9',
        100: '#F1ECF3',
        200: '#E1D5E6',
        300: '#CDB6D7',
        400: '#bc9eca',
        500: '#9B6EB0',
        600: '#87579E',
        700: '#714884',
        800: '#5A3A6A',
        900: '#432D4E',
        950: '#2A1C31',
        DEFAULT: '#bc9eca',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F8F6F9,
  '100': #F1ECF3,
  '200': #E1D5E6,
  '300': #CDB6D7,
  '400': #bc9eca,
  '500': #9B6EB0,
  '600': #87579E,
  '700': #714884,
  '800': #5A3A6A,
  '900': #432D4E,
  '950': #2A1C31,
);
$brand-base: #bc9eca;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F8F6F9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F1ECF3", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E1D5E6", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#CDB6D7", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#bc9eca", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#9B6EB0", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#87579E", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#714884", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#5A3A6A", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#432D4E", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#2A1C31", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$value": "#000000", "$type": "color" }
  }
}

Best text color

Only one of black and white can be right. This is the one, with the number that proves it.

Readable at a glance#000000 on #bc9eca · 8.88:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.36:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 8.88:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #bc9eca as text scores 2.36:1 on white and 8.88:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #472D52 at 5.03:1.

Make it accessible

A contrast checker tells you that you failed. This tells you what to ship instead — same hue, same saturation, lightness moved only as far as WCAG demands.

The quick fox
#9363AA · 4.56:1
AA on white−18% L
#9363AA
The quick fox
#704783 · 7.20:1
AAA on white−31% L
#704783
The quick fox
#bc9eca · 8.88:1
AA on blackalready passes
#bc9eca
The quick fox
#bc9eca · 8.88:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#bc9eca

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #AC87BD is enough for headings on white. Non-text elements such as icons, chart strokes and focus rings also sit at 3:1 under WCAG 2.2 (1.4.11).

Accessibility — WCAG contrast

Aa
#bc9eca on white: 2.36:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#bc9eca on black: 8.88:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #bc9eca as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #bc9eca.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.36:1AaAa
Slate 502.26:1AaAa
Slate 1002.16:1AaAa
Slate 2001.92:1AaAa
Slate 3001.59:1AaAa
Slate 4001.08:1AaAa
Slate 5002.01:1AaAa
Slate 6003.20:1AaAa
Slate 7004.38:1AaAa
Slate 8006.19:1AaAa
Slate 9007.55:1AaAa
Black8.88:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #98A7CC
deuteranopia · #9FA9C9
tritanopia · #BBA3AD

Roughly one man in twelve has some form of colour vision deficiency. If any of the three panels above is hard to tell apart from a neighbouring colour in your palette, add a shape, an icon or a label so the meaning does not rest on hue alone.

Color scale — 50 to 950

A Tailwind-shaped ramp built around this exact hex. #bc9eca is pinned to step 400; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F8F6F9
#F1ECF3
#E1D5E6
#CDB6D7
#bc9eca
#9B6EB0
#87579E
#714884
#5A3A6A
#432D4E
#2A1C31
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F8F6F9Darkest = 950 · #2A1C31Text step on white = 600
Perceptual ramp — OKLCH

The same eleven steps expressed in OKLCH, where equal lightness numbers actually look equally spaced. HSL ramps go muddy in the yellows and washed out in the blues; this one does not. Modern browsers render it natively — the hex ramp above is the fallback.

50100200300400500600700800900950
oklch tokensclick to select
:root {
  --brand-50: oklch(0.97 0.018 315.0);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.028 315.0);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.042 315.0);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.055 315.0);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.065 315.0);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.070 315.0);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.070 315.0);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.066 315.0);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.059 315.0);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.049 315.0);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.039 315.0);
}

Colors that work with #bc9eca

Not a palette — a role sheet. Each swatch answers one question you will hit while building the component.

Text on it#000000
Black wins here
Surface#F8F5FA
Tinted page background
Border#DBCAE2
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#7F5194
Captions on the surface
Accent#6A8844
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#472D52
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F4EFF6
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1F1424
Dark-mode background
Hover#AC87BD
One step down in lightness
Pressed#9C70B1
Two steps down
Disabled#EEE8F0
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#C7A5D8
Offset from the fill so it reads
Light mode
Everything in its place

Surface, border, heading and body all derive from this one hue, so the screen stays coherent without a second palette.

Primary actionSecondaryBadge
Dark mode
Same hue, inverted

Lightness flips, hue holds. The accent stays the anchor in both themes.

Primary actionSecondaryAccent

In real components

The same eight roles, wired into the interface patterns you will actually build with them. Every state below is a computed value, not a mock-up.

Buttons and states
Save changesHoverPressedDisabled
OutlineSubtleLinkFocused
Form field
you@company.com

Focus ring uses the light variant so the field still reads as one shape.

Send me product updates
Notice
Your export is ready

The file stays available for seven days. Download it before it expires.

NewBetaDraft
Data
Storage used68%
Acme LtdActive
NorthwindTrial
GlobexActive

How to use #bc9eca

Derived from its contrast, chroma and lightness — not from taste.

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Charts, tags and secondary surfaces
  • Card and section backgrounds
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • White text placed on it
  • Pairing with a same-lightness hue — edges vibrate
Minimum size as text on white
Not as text
Safe as a fill behind white type
No — use #472D52
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #AC87BD

Meaning and mood

What a colour in this family tends to signal, and how this particular chroma and lightness change the reading.

creativepremiummodernimaginative

Violet sits between the warmth of red and the calm of blue, so it reads as inventive without reading as risky. Current shorthand for software craft.

The muted chroma softens the association — it reads considered rather than loud, which suits long-form and data-heavy screens. The lightness keeps it airy and approachable.

Worth knowing

Deep violets swallow detail on screens with poor gamma; check it on a cheap laptop panel.

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium
  • Weight29/100
  • TemperatureCool
  • ApproachabilityBalanced

Colour associations are cultural and vary by market. Treat these as a starting point for a conversation with your audience, not a finding about them.

Similar colors

One move away from this hex in each direction. Every swatch is its own page.

Color relationships

The wheel positions with their names attached, so you can grab the one you actually need.

Complementary#ACCA9E
Analogous left#A69ECA
Analogous right#CA9EC2
Split-complement 1#C2CA9E
Split-complement 2#9ECAA6
Triadic 1#CABC9E
Triadic 2#9ECABC
Tetradic#CAA69E
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°281°

#bc9eca sits at 281°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red73.7%
Green62.0%
Blue79.2%
R · 0–255
188
0xbc
G · 0–255
158
0x9e
B · 0–255
202
0xca

CMYK percentages

Cyan6.9%
Magenta21.8%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)20.8%

Total ink coverage is 50%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#bc9eca text on a black background

contrast 8.88:1

Card sample

#bc9eca text on a white background

contrast 2.36:1

Card sample

#bc9eca on grey

2.16:1

#bc9eca on its own surface

2.19:1

#bc9eca on its dark surface

7.50:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #bc9eca;
Background color
Panel with #bc9eca background
background-color: #bc9eca;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #bc9eca;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(188, 158, 202, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(188, 158, 202, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #bc9eca;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #bc9eca, #CA9EBB);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bc9eca, #CA9EB0);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #bc9eca;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #bc9eca;
caret-color: #bc9eca;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #bc9eca;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F4EFF6;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #bc9eca;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#bc9eca 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #bc9eca over white; the bottom row is the same alpha over a checkerboard, so you can see what survives on a photo or a video.

Bottom row of hexes is the flattened result over white — use those when a design tool refuses transparency, or when you need a solid fallback.

alpha in every syntaxclick to select
rgba(188, 158, 202, 0.5)
rgb(188 158 202 / 50%)
#bc9eca80
hsl(281 29% 71% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #bc9eca 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#bc9eca1a#F8F5FA
20%#bc9eca33#F2ECF4
40%#bc9eca66#E4D8EA
60%#bc9eca99#D7C5DF
80%#bc9ecacc#C9B1D5

Gradients from #bc9eca

Six recipes, each built from this hex and shown with the exact CSS that produced it.

Elevation
Same hue, three lightnesses — safe anywhere
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #D7C6E0, #bc9eca 45%, #472D52);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #bc9eca, #BF8AA8);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bc9eca, #ACCA9E);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #E5D9EA 0%, #bc9eca 45%, #472D52 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F8F5FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #C2BFDC 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D5B2CC 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #472D52 0%, transparent 65%), #bc9eca;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #bc9eca

Shades — darker

Tints — lighter

Tones — desaturated

Color harmonies

Nearest named colors

Ranked with CIEDE2000 across all 139 CSS keywords. Under ΔE 2 the eye stops telling them apart; over ΔE 10 they are plainly different colors.

#bc9eca in the real world

Where a color in this family tends to land, and the interface roles it is usually asked to play.

Industries
Creative toolsFintechBeautyLuxury
Common UI roles
SurfacesBadgesHighlightsEmpty states
Print note

Converts to four-color process without much drama. Proof it anyway.

On screens

Holds up across typical panel gamma. Still worth checking on an uncalibrated laptop, where mid-tones shift most.

In dark mode

Usable as-is on a dark surface at 8.88:1.

Explore nearby colors

Small, deliberate steps away from this hex — useful when you are hunting for the version of a colour that finally feels right.

#bc9eca, answered

What color is #bc9eca?

#bc9eca is a light soft violet, closest to Plum (ΔE2000 7.1). It sits at 281° on the hue wheel with 29% saturation and 71% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #bc9eca?

rgb(188, 158, 202) — 188 red, 158 green and 202 blue out of 255, or 73.7% / 62% / 79.2% by channel.

What is #bc9eca in HSL and HSV?

hsl(281, 29%, 71%) and hsv(281, 22%, 79%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #bc9eca a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3941 and perceived brightness is 68%, so black text on it reaches 8.88:1.

Should I use black or white text on #bc9eca?

Black. It scores 8.88:1 against #bc9eca, versus 2.36:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #bc9eca accessible on a white background?

#bc9eca on white scores 2.36:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #9363AA to reach 4.5:1, or #704783 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #bc9eca?

#ACCA9E sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #C2CA9E and #9ECAA6, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #bc9eca?

For interface work: #F8F5FA as the surface, #DBCAE2 for borders, #7F5194 for secondary text, #6A8844 as an accent and #472D52 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #A69ECA and #CA9EC2 stays calm, while #ACCA9E is the loudest partner.

What is #bc9eca in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(7%, 22%, 0%, 21%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #bc9eca warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 59 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #CA9EC8; nudged cooler, #AB9DCB.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #bc9eca?

The fuchsia family — its 500 step is #d946ef, ΔE2000 21.1 away. That is a visible difference, so define #bc9eca as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #bc9eca in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#bc9eca] or text-[#bc9eca], or register the whole ramp under theme.extend.colors.brand so you get bg-brand-500 and friends. The generated 50–950 scale on this page is ready to paste into your config.

What is #bc9eca with 50% opacity?

rgba(188, 158, 202, 0.5), or #bc9eca80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DECFE5; over black, #5E4F65.

Is #bc9eca a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC99CC, ΔE2000 4.6 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #bc9eca mean?

As a violet, it reads creative, premium, modern. Violet sits between the warmth of red and the calm of blue, so it reads as inventive without reading as risky. Current shorthand for software craft. At this moderate chroma the association is present but not shouted.

What gradient works with #bc9eca?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #D7C6E0, #bc9eca 45%, #472D52). For more colour, a short hue run to #BF8AA8 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #bc9eca in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #bc9eca at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.